Tag Archives: toddler art projects

I’m sleep deprived. Or maybe I’ve lost a marble or two. What other explanation could there be as to why I willingly gave my two year old some paper, a few tubes of (washable) paint and a brush and let him have at it?

Actually I’ve been feeling a little guilty. I’ve been wanting to do some toddler art projects with Spencer for a while now, but just didn’t have the time, energy and let’s face it — the inclination to haul out the art supplies so he could create.

It was rainy here this morning though and I didn’t have too much to do, so I figured, why not? I pulled some Crayola finger paints out of the closet, along with a brush and paper and plopped him down at the kitchen table.

I knew he wouldn’t be into finger paints as he’s got a thing about messy hands, but he really enjoyed using the brush. It sounds silly because I’m talking about a 2-year-old, but he actually employed a few different techniques — he made dots and swirls, holding the brush different ways to make different types of prints.

What I really enjoyed about our morning of toddler art projects was going over colors with him. He knows some of his colors but not all and today was a good opportunity to review them. I know toddlers don’t necessary need to know their colors yet, but it’s something I’m very aware of. C. is color blind (only in certain ways, mixing up blue and purple; red and brown and some others). His condition is something I suspected when he was a toddler but didn’t confirm it until he was in preschool. Being that color blindness is more common in boys than girls (A. isn’t) I always wonder if Spencer will follow in his big brother’s footsteps. I don’t think he is, but I’m not certain. Only time will tell I guess.

I’m glad we painted together. It went really well — I will definitely be more willing to work on some toddler art projects with him in the future. And of course we had our funny moments too:

I only had three tubes of paint, but they were the primary colors, so we soon had our hues to choose from doubled. He really liked squeezing the paint out of the tubes and, surprisingly enough, touching the paint, eventually using his fingers to make his art.

“It looks like catsup,” he told me when I put some red on the paper plate we were using as a palette. There was a pause, and then, “I lick it?”

I thought we might have a problem when he got purple paint on his red M&M shirt, but as luck would have it, it smeared in just the right spot, doubling as a mustache. He thought it was hysterical.

I just hope he doesn’t like the facial hair too much — as you recall, we have five M&M shirts that would have to be modified!

What type of toddler art projects do you and your child like to do?Want to learn more about Spencer? Check out Shock and Aww on Facebook and my other parenting blog, We Are Both Right. Also, I’m on Twitter too. (Because I have all this time on my hands.